‘With The Cliffhangers, Sabin Iqbal marks an impressive literary debut through this coming-of-age tale set within a sleepy coastal village in Kerala, brought to life by a striking narrative
infused with nostalgia, an awareness of fractured identities and characters who expose the
frailties of our own humanity.’
—Shashi Tharoor
‘Sabin Iqbal writes about a terrain and its people with the kind of magic that makes you want to visit the book’s setting and strike up a conversation with its characters. The Cliffhangers is the story of struggles and redemption. And Iqbal narrates it with wisdom and grace.’
—Anees Salim
‘The Cliffhangers may never know greatness but Iqbal ensures we will always know what
they hoped to be.’
—Deepak Unnikrishnan

On New Year’s Eve, a tourist is raped in Kadaloor, a tranquil fishing village on the
southern coast of the country. The chief suspects are a group of teenaged boys (called the
Cliffhangers). As they attempt to prove their innocence, the boys also have to deal with the
spectre of communal intolerance that is beginning to divide the Hindu and Muslim fishermen and villagers. Numerous small incidents, in which the boys are sought to be implicated, help ratchet up the stress. The growing communal tension and the hunt for the real rapist intersect, propelling the village to the edge of disaster.
In The Cliffhangers, Sabin Iqbal gives us a brilliant debut novel that illuminates hard truths
about the religious fault lines that are dividing the country.